


For Both of Us

by helsinkibaby



Category: Fame (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26413654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: It’s Reggie’s opening night on Broadway.
Relationships: Reggie Higgins/Ian Ware





	For Both of Us

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt "good luck charm" on my Cotton Candy Bingo card. Perhaps the most self indulgent fic I will write for this challenge!

  
Ian is rushing to the stage door of the Gershwin Theatre because he's running late and if he knows Reggie, she's about to have a stroke over the fact that it's her opening night as a Broadway lead and he's not there yet. He doesn't stop for people he knows or fans he doesn't, certainly doesn't stop for the press, but as he reaches the stage door he hears a familiar voice calling his name.

He stops because she's the only person in the world who would make him.

"Mrs Chapman." He greets Nicole's mother with a smile and a kiss on the cheek and tries not to notice the pallor of her cheeks, how her hands grip his arms a little too tightly. "Thank you so much for coming..."

"I wasn't going to," the older woman admits, and for a woman who terrified the students of the School of the Arts ten long years ago, she sounds curiously frail. "But then I thought..."

What she thought doesn't need to be said, and Ian takes her hand in his, squeezes it tightly before he puts his arm through hers, linking her courtly style as he says, "Let's get inside."

He makes his way through the labyrinth of rooms and corridors to Reggie's dressing room and when he knocks their familiar pattern and walks inside, he barely gets to see the look of relief on her green face before she throws her arms around him.

Then she sees who is with him and her eyes fill with tears. "Mrs C...you came."

Reggie's embraces the older woman as Ian shakes his head with a smile, well aware that Reggie Higgins is the only person in the world who would ever get away with calling Mrs Chapman that. He knows, from what Reggie and Nicole had both told him, that the first time she'd done it, Mrs Chapman had been fit to be tied, but she'd grown accustomed to it over time and today she just smiles fondly at the girl who had been her daughter's best friend and says, "Reggie, dear, don't cry. If you ruin that make-up, the curtain will never go up on time."

She says it with a perfectly straight face and Reggie laughs, shaking her head as she tilts it back. "I'm so glad you're here," she says and Mrs Chapman looks down, glances over at Ian.

"I very nearly didn't...but then I realised that Nicole would never forgive me for missing your debut as a leading lady. Besides..." She reaches into her pocket, brings out a small box, "I thought you might like to have this."

When Reggie opens the box, she gasps and Ian feels a lump rising in his throat that he'll never admit to anyone. Well, except Reggie. Because lying there nestled in velvet is a necklace that he saw all the time ten years ago, around the neck of Nicole Chapman, every time she performed on the stage. Two masks, one happy, one sad, the symbol of the theatre, inscribed with the motto "Never look back."

"Nicole's good luck charm."

Reggie's voice is choked and Ian can practically hear the head make-up artist having a tantrum from here, but he doesn't care that much and neither does Reggie.

"If she were here..." Mrs Chapman's voice wobbles, but it doesn't break, "She'd be in the front row, cheering you on."

Reggie laughs. "Or up there beside me," she counters, and the sudden image of the two of them up on the stage, bringing the audience to its feet (because Ian had heard them duet many times and for two girls with such different tastes, they certainly brought out the best in each other) is so powerful that Ian has to literally catch his breath. "She should be here, Mrs C... This was her dream too..."

Mrs Chapman catches Reggie's hand, holds it tightly. "Well then... Now it's up to you." She half sings the words and Reggie catches it immediately, the smile that Ian knows and loves lighting up her face.

"For both of us," she promises, hugging the older woman again.

And so, when Reggie sings those lines in "For Good", when her performance brings the audience to its feet, Ian and Mrs Chapman are thinking of those two girls, one shining in front of them, one shining in memory, forever sixteen.

They stand, and they applaud and they cry.

And they smile.  



End file.
